A boatload of North African migrants reaches dry land in Italy

Immigrants wait to disembark from a boat upon their arrival in the port of the Italian island of Lampedusa early on Feb. 21. The past week has seen a sharp spike in migrants attempting to make it into the EU from Tunisia, with some 5,000 brought to Lampedusa after being intercepted by coastguards.

Roberto Salamone / AFP - Getty Images

Immigrants wait for a bus that will bring them to a temporary accomodation center after their arrival in the port of the Italian island of Lampedusa early on Feb. 21.

A new wave of immigration to the remote Italian island of Lampedusa has followed recent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt that unseated their decades-old regimes, heightening social and economic tensions in the North African countries.